Why the slow part is never the building
Ask anyone who builds websites what holds a job up, and they'll tell you the same thing. It's not the design. It's waiting for photos. Waiting for the logo. Waiting for someone to confirm which suburbs they cover.
We build sites in seven business days, and the ones that run over almost never run over because of us. They run over because the form came in half-filled and the photos "will be sent tonight". So here's the list. Do it before you talk to anyone, and whoever builds your site will get it done faster and get it done better.
1. Photos of your work
This is the big one. Ten to twenty photos, from your phone, of real jobs. Finished work. Before-and-afters if you've got them. Your van. Your crew. You, on site, looking like someone a customer would let in the house.
Don't wait until you've got a good camera. Phone photos of a real job beat a stock photo of a model in spotless hi-vis every time, because customers can tell. Find them now, put them in one folder, and stop when you've got twenty.
If you've got none, start today. Photograph every job for the next fortnight.
2. Your business details
Trading name. ABN. Licence numbers if your trade has them (plumbers, sparkies, builders, this means you, and customers do look). The phone number customers should ring, which might not be the one on your invoices. The email address quote requests should go to, and check you actually read it.
Write them all in one note on your phone so you're not hunting for them later.
3. The suburbs you actually cover
Not "everywhere". Not "greater Sydney". A list. Twenty to forty suburbs is normal for a trade that travels. If there's a suburb you'll take a job in but wouldn't advertise for, leave it off.
This matters more than people think. When someone in Frankston searches "plumber Frankston", a site that says Frankston gets found. A site that says "Melbourne and surrounds" doesn't.
4. The services you want more of
Not every job you've ever done. The jobs you want to be ringing about. If you're an electrician who's sick of changing light globes and wants switchboard upgrades, your website should say switchboards first and loudest.
Write down five to ten services in plain words. "Blocked drains" not "drainage solutions". Say which ones you'd travel for and which ones you wouldn't.
5. Your logo, if you have one
Any format. If the only copy is on the side of the van, take a photo of the van. If you don't have one, that's fine. Say so up front and don't let it hold up the rest of the list. A simple text logo takes an hour and can be done alongside the build.
6. Your domain login, if you have a domain
If you've already registered yourname.com.au, find out where. GoDaddy, Crazy Domains, VentraIP, whoever. Find the login. If a previous web person registered it for you, find out whether it's in your name or theirs, because it should be yours, and getting it back later is a headache.
If you don't have a domain, don't buy one yet. Have a name in mind and check whether it's taken.
7. A few sentences about you
How long you've been going. Who's in the business. Why you started it. What you do that the last bloke didn't. Three or four sentences, typed the way you'd say it to a customer. Don't try to write it properly. That's the builder's job. Your job is to give them something true to work from.
8. Prices, if you list them
Some trades list prices. Some don't. If you do, write down the ones you're happy to have on a website, in a form that won't date. "Standard service from $180" ages better than "Service $180".
If you don't list prices, say so, and say what you say instead. "Free quotes" and "fixed price before we start" are both worth putting on the site.
That's the list
Photos, details, suburbs, services, logo, domain, a few sentences, prices. An hour on a Sunday, most of it finding photos.
It's the same list we send our own clients before they fill in our form, because it's the same list any builder needs. Have it ready, and a seven-day build is seven days. Don't, and it isn't, whoever you go with.